Hexakis[
p-(hydroxylmethyl)phenoxy]cyclotriphosphazene was synthesized by the reaction of hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene with the sodium salt of 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde and subsequent reduction of aldehydegroups to alcohol groups by using sodium borohydride. This compound was employed in initiating thering-opening polymerization of
![](/images/gifchars/epsilon.gif)
-caprolactone and
L-lactide to produce star-shaped poly(
L-lactide) (PLA),poly(
![](/images/gifchars/epsilon.gif)
-caprolactone) (PCL), and their block copolymer with cyclophosphazene cores.
1H NMR and GPCanalysis showed narrow-distributed star-shaped polyesters were successfully synthesized with high yields.